In modern motor vehicles, particularly passenger cars, it is desirable that the window in the door have the glass as flush as possible with the outer panel of the door in order to streamline the vehicle's appearance. Furthermore, it is desirable to have a door which has a thin profile so that the interior width of the passenger compartment can be maximized in relation to the overall width of the vehicle.
One difficulty in obtaining the goal of a thin door with flush glass is that part of the door handle assembly mechanism for operating the door lock must be situated between the door outer panel and the lowered position of the glass. Therefore the size and configuration of the door handle dictates a certain clearance space between the door panel and the window panel. This problem is more complicated in the case of exterior door handles of the push button type because the push button also intrudes into the space between the door panel and the window panel.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a new and improved door handle assembly of the push button type which would be configured to minimize the intrusion of the door handle operating mechanism into the space between the door panel and the window panel.